ICICI Bank has released a Press release to do away with rumours floating regarding its present financial status. The bank is silent about its credit portfolio, which has been the talk amongst the other bankers, what about it?

THIS REFERS to the Press release issued by ICICI Bank regarding its present financial position.No one can contest the facts released by ICICI Bank, regarding holding of a capital of Rs 20,000 crores, consolidated total assets of Rs 484,000 crores and having earned a profit after tax to the tune of Rs 4,158 crores.

The capital of Rs 20,000- crores is not exclusively in the form of liquid cash or bank balance. It is now a part of the total consolidated assets.

The so-called total consolidated assets must be inclusive of revaluation of their assets. As such, the bank is silent as to what extent its assets have been revalued and how it has accounted for its revalued assets.

Time and again, it has been proved that whatever the value of assets may be, when it comes to distress sale, the value at the time of sale has been considerably low and it has been difficult to sell.

Even though the bank has published an attractive figure of Rs 484,000crores as the total consolidated assets owned by it, the entire amount cannot be liquidated at one stroke, as this includes the amounts advanced by the bank.

The bank is silent about its credit portfolio, which has been the talk amongst the other bankers. The quality of advance and categorisation of health codes to the accounts is a big question mark. As such the Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of India must jointly appoint a committee of bankers to scan the large advances granted by the bank. Only then will the cloud be cleared.